MUNCIE, Ind. — Ishmael El-Amin fell hard to the floor late in Saturday’s game against Toledo and started to pick himself up.

“Stay down, stay down!” Zach Gunn yelled to his fellow freshman, so he could help him up.

Contrast that scene to the first official practice of the season, when a frustrated Francis Kiapway got in the face of Gunn, who was admittedly a little shy and not communicating with his teammates during a drill.

El-Amin (18 points) and Gunn (16 points) finished off arguably Ball State’s finest performance of the season, a 28-point thrashing of first-place Toledo and underscored this point: If Ball State’s bench, specifically these two freshmen, are this good, Ball State (18-9, 9-5 MAC) is as dangerous of a team as any in the Mid-American Conference heading into Tuesday’s game against visiting Northern Illinois (12-15, 5-9).

“We see them practice every day, so we know what they’re capable of,” Tahjai Teague said of El-Amin and Gunn. “It’s not as big of a dropoff as people probably see because we know how they’ve been playing all year. It’s not really surprising to me, I’m just glad everyone else got to see it.”

Added head coach James Whitford: “It’s one of those deals where we know it in practice that those guys are good players and are more than capable than beating you besides what we’ve done lately with Trey, Tahjai and Tayler scoring. We have a lot of guys who can do it, and it’s great to see it happen on a night like tonight.”

El-Amin has played a major role all season, averaging 18.6 minutes per game. Gunn, though, missed six games with a small fracture in his left foot. He also missed time in the offseason with a Lisfranc injury in his right foot.

“It has (been tough),” Gunn said. “It’s shown in my play, I’ve been struggling. But the guys keep my confidence up, and they believe in me. That helps a lot. We have a lot of leaders on this team.”

Before Saturday, Gunn had been shooting just 31 percent from the floor and 23 percent from 3-point range. But the 6-foot-6 forward showed his ability to stretch the floor in knocking down 4 of 5 from deep, including one about six feet beyond the arc.

“I told him that I really needed him to make one because people keep asking me if he’s allowed to shoot out there,” Whitford said. “I had a tough time explaining to them why the answer was yes, so it was good to see him bang a couple. He can really shoot, and he’s been long overdue. It’s great to see.”

Having El-Amin and Gunn contribute like they did Saturday is an enormous lift for a team with as inexperienced of a bench as Ball State. Aside from the two freshmen, only sophomore walk-on Josh Thompson is seeing significant minutes.

Both freshmen looked the part Saturday, in the box score and in terms of communication. Yes, Gunn still remembers Kiapway encouraging him to be more vocal during that first practice, and he’s proud of where he is now.

“That was one of the biggest things coming in for me, was communicating,” Gunn said. “I know I’ve come a long way, but there’s still a ways to go. Those guys are always leading by example, and I’ve just been following that.”